First class—10,000 inhabitants or more and a home-rule charter, of which there are 10 (Aberdeen, Bellingham, Bremerton, Everett, Richland, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver, and Yakima)

Second class—1,500 or more inhabitants and no home-rule charter, of which there are 9 (Chewelah, Colfax, Colville, Davenport, Palouse, Port Orchard, Ritzville, Tekoa, and Wapato)

Towns—Fewer than 1,500 inhabitants and no home-rule charter, of which there are 70

Code Cities- Although a city must have a population of 10,000 to adopt a home rule charter, any city or town may acquire statutory home rule power by adopting the optional municipal code. There are 191 code cities, comprised of 190 noncharter code cities and 1 charter code city (Kelso)

There is also one unclassified city, Waitsburg, which operates under a territorial charter[4][5]

Initiative process availability

The availability of initiative varies depending on the classification, form of government, and home rule status of a town, city, or county.

Counties

General law counties do not currently have initiative authority, except to petition to adopt a charter. The 6 home rule charter counties do have authority, and all 6 have adopted an initiative process.[3]

Cities

First class charter cities have a mandated initiative process for charter amendments. A first class charter city may adopt initiative for ordinances in its charter, and all 10 have done so.

Second class cities and towns do not have authority to adopt initiative.

Code cities have authority to permit initiative. If a code city exercises that authority, the initiative process is set by state statute. As of 2005, approximately 44 code cities had elected to allow initiative. There is 1 city, Shelton, which uses the commission form of government and has a mandated initiative process.